Welcome to The Athletic’s Premier League predictions challenge, which I’m horrified to have to say has been won by the subscribers.Yes, Arsenal fan Neel from New Delhi held his nerve on the final day to shake off the persistent and heroic challenge of six-year-old Wilfred — and the meandering, distinctly unheroic challenge of a 51-year-old Athletic writer.And the final result — with the data-based algorithm ending up bottom of the table — gives us fairly irrefutable evidence that The Athletic subscribers are the smartest around. Too smart for this particular writer, that’s for sure.Each week since the season began in August, I have been joined by a guest subscriber, six-year-old Wilfred and an algorithm in predicting the Premier League results with varying degrees of success.We have awarded three points for a correct scoreline and one point for a correct result. We have also awarded a bonus point for any “unique” correct prediction, so for example Neel picked up four points for the subscribers as the only player to back Tottenham Hotspur to beat Everton 1-0 on Sunday.Big for Spurs, big for subscribers (Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)The subscribers started brilliantly with Manchester United supporter Vangeeh from India in week one. There were a few ups and downs along the way — for all of us — but there were some stellar performances from our subscribers all over the world, not least Sunderland fan Derek from Rhode Island, West Ham fan Steve from London, Bournemouth fan Chris from Kentucky, Manchester City fan Weston from New Jersey and Arsenal fan Jack from London and Newcastle United fan Adam from the Republic of Ireland.Newcastle fans played a big part. In addition to Adam’s contribution, there were spectacular scores from Hannah from Bristol in gameweek 22 (14 points) and Elizabeth from San Francisco in gameweek 31 (13 points). Some of the readers in the comments section took issue with Elizabeth’s predictions in particular (a Newcastle fan predicting Sunderland to win the Tyne-Wear derby?!) but she and Hannah both played a blinder in weeks when the rest of us fell short.Wilfred has been amazing, recovering from a tough start to force his way back into contention and to lead the table for much of the second half of the season.“I feel proud of myself for coming second, but I would have liked to come first,” he says. “Congratulations to the subscribers. Next time, I’m going to beat you.”